Shanghai Night

It was a rainy day in Shanghai, fortunately I've learned that things like that add another dimension to your travel experience.  We happened to be in the front seat in the tour bus at this point.  It was so steamy inside we kept wiping away the fog on the windows.  I think the photo looks something like a Monet.

Our friends, Helen and Sean would not let me leave this country without first going to Shanghai to see how beautiful it was.  Sean left us at the train station in Suzhou and from then on dear Helen was in charge of me.  She was so sweet making sure I saw as much as possible, never was without food, took time for tea, got us from place to place, and most of all did all the talking/negotiating for us.  We took the train downtown to People's Square and we came up from the underground station we walked out to this huge plaza.  It was just after rush hour on a Monday morning so the street was not jammed as I'm sure it is on a weekend.

Walking down the main plaza my eyes were drinking it all in.  At the intersections I found myself straining to see more...more.  It looked just like the China you would imagine.

We were able to sit in the top of the sightseeing bus before it started to rain.  Those old streets are so narrow and it was fun to be up a little higher and able to see all around us.

I don't know what this area of downtown looked like 20 years ago, but I know that it is being restored in the old Chinese style, because tourists love it so much.  Block after block is under construction with many areas finished and full of tourists.

Eating is very fun part of the adventure.  We were in this food court around noon with everyone else in Shanghai.  Lots of Chinese noodle and rice places but we had Japanese Tapenyaki cooked by this guy.

Helen had C. and I had F.  Delicious and fun to watch it being cooked.

We went to check in to our simple Chinese hotel room and saw this very cool building along the way.  I want to know more about it.  Looked like an apartment building.

We went back to "The People's Park" downtown.  Immaculate, beautiful, fresh.  Seems like in every park you find a bunch of guys playing cards or gambling in some manner or other. 

There is a children's art exhibit about Da Vinci, someplace, somewhere, sometime.  I couldn't read the details, but I did recognize Mona.

We took a ferry ride across the river from West Shanghai to East Shanghai and then back.

 When you walk through this little alley under the number 4 you come out in a big shopping area.  It was raining so somewhat uncomfortable.  This was funny to see...

From where I was standing I could see an old Chinese Tea House, not packed.  Across the square...

Starbucks...packed with Westerners...pathetic.

In the evening, in the rain, we went down to the shopping area that is a mass of little sidewalks and streets.  It must be really fun in "not raining" weather, lots of places to eat outside, music playing and something to buy around every corner.  My favorite spot was a photography gallery,  Rui Yuan C Photography, stacks of fabulous prints from Chinese life.  www.ruiyuanc.com

If you are in Shanghai you have to walk along

Huangpu Creek on the Bunde or as the Chinese would say, Waitan at night.  The lights are incredible.  This one shot is of the west side of the river where the walkway is.

This is the east side with several famous buildings.  It was raining and foggy, so I didn't try too hard to get a photo (they do make postcards of this one :-)  There is an electricity going through everyone as they try to get photos of each other with this cool background.   

Wait for it.....Helen took me to a Malaysian restaurant, Food Fusion.  She knows I like spicy food so she ordered one of the top 10 most famous soups in the world, Tom Yam Soup.  All the Asian countries have their version of it.   I was loving it and then I thought of my grandson, Nikolai who also likes spicy.  He'll take a bite of something spicy and then his siblings will say "Wait for it."  Suddenly, my mouth was burning and my face was like a bright red tomato or so Helen says.  We'd had bad service so there was nothing to drink!!!!  Then I remembered I had a bottle of water in my bag.  Ahhhhhh.  I still think the soup was good!

Aren't these bags just the best?  They were in the plaza outside the Shanghai Expo Center.

After a walk through Century Park, I was ready to go home.

We got on the subway and caught the fast train back to Suzhou.  The train goes about 200 mph and we were back in Suzhou in 30 minutes.  Sean and the boys picked us up.

Eldest son and second son were worn out from being without mom.

Thanks guys for giving her up for a night.